New research has indicated that smokers of tobacco cigarettes who use e-cigarettes to try to quit their tobacco habit have better outcomes than those who use no aids or those who used an over-the-counter (OTC) nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), according to a blog by Grzegorz Krol on the Nicotine Policy website.

The research was presented by Dr. Jamie Brown, of University College London, and colleagues at the 20th annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco in Seattle on Feb. 8.

The study was conducted on a large representative sample of the English population, and was based on people who had smoked during the past 12 months. It looked at those who had made at least one quit attempt using only an e-cigarette, using only an OTC NRT, or using no aid in their most recent quit attempt. The outcome assessed was abstinence from cigarettes up to the time of the survey.

Users of e-cigarettes performed best, with 19.9 percent having stopped smoking. Of those who used no aids, 15.1 percent were successful, while only 10 percent were successful using OTC NRT.

Krol cautioned that care was needed in looking at these results, which were taken from an abstract of the research paper.